Remodelling
by Kilrez
Summary: It takes an awful lot to change a person. 500 years oughta do it. Coincidentally, that's about long enough to grow a TARDIS. Jack is about to learn this from personal experience.
1. Chapter 1

**Remodelling**

My brain won't leave the little lump of coral on Jack's desk alone. So this is an investigation of Jack, 500 years on. And what exactly the Doctor thinks of it.

* * *

He was old now. Far, far older than any human was ever supposed to get. And it was only now that he was truly beginning to appreciate what a mere speck his massive life-time was to the age of the universe. Funny that. It sounded clichéd, but wisdom did come with age. Sometimes more wisdom than one man could bear. But bear it he had to.

Jack rolled off his swag, standing in one smooth movement. It felt like he was cheating, somehow, being this old, and yet still physically young. The truly ancient were meant to be truly decrepit as well. He was sure there was some sort of formula for it.

Pacing along the stone corridors in bare feet, he moved with distracted efficiency, feeling small currents of air eddy against his skin. She was calling him. She'd been in his head, a constant, growing presence for more years than he could remember now. A golden glow, a warm, comforting, constant presence as everyone he knew aged and died about him (again, and again, and again). She'd started off as little more than a speck, a niggling feeling he couldn't quite pin down. It had taken him over a decade, and one horrifying accident to realise just what it was that had set up a telepathic link with him.

It had taken over half a century more (mostly due to development on her behalf), for that link to become even consciously recognisable. It had taken another two hundred years for it to be strong enough for them to be able to communicate anything by it, if communicate was the right word. It was more emoting, and simply connecting with one another. And she was drawing on him, in a way that somehow left him stronger.

Jack wasn't sure how many years it would be before he came to understand and accept just what was happening, what would come to happen. Her time was almost here though. He felt like a nervous new father; drew constantly on her deep well of calm, accepting patience to keep his nerves intact.

His heart flipped in his chest as he reached the cavern where she rested. He was constantly astounded by her beauty. Moving more slowly now, carefully, he walked reverentially up to her, eyes scanning every inch of her frame.

Expectant, she stood waiting. Unable to resist any longer, he stepped through the ragged archway, into the cluttered space within. Small as it was, it easily folded in more space-time than could be encompassed by the outside structure.

Beatific smile on his face, Jack moved forwards, reaching out to lay his hands on the as yet unformed console. Kneeling down, he carefully peered underneath, taking in some of the wires that had lengthened and grown overnight. 'Going so fast now, beautiful,' he murmured aloud, beginning to work. She needed so many things to help her grow. She was teaching him as they went, and yet the majority of his work was still trial and error.

Nimble fingers weaving amongst the technology, he re-routed here, connected this to that, trimmed here, and soldered there. She would be the best ship in the whole universe. It seemed like all his experiences garnered in his great long life had been waiting for this time, when he would help her to grow herself.

'If you keep going at this rate, you'll be ready to fly in a year,' he told her. She knew already, but he liked to talk to her as he worked. He'd been talking to her ever since she was little more than a lump of coral, resting dormant on his desk, gathering energy for her blossoming.

Those days, at the turn of the millennium, so far back in his memories, and yet the time still stood vividly in his mind. A time full of passion and determination and love that flared so brightly that it burned. Jack hadn't realised what was going on, unsettled by the tiny scrapings he'd felt in his head, at the very darkest, quietest moments in the depths of the night.

He'd scanned himself time and time again with every bit of technology he could get his hands on, looking for infection, or infestation, or possession. With his team completely oblivious, he'd slowly worked himself into a morbid terror, desperately seeking what the seed growing inside him was.

When he came to think about it in those terms, the Accident had probably been a good thing. That didn't change it from being the second most traumatic event in his entire long life.

Owen and Gwen had been play-fighting, chasing each other around the hub, squealing and laughing together. Jack had been half-watching them out of the corner of his eye, smiling slightly to himself. They had to be the least subtle pair he'd ever seen.

It had been sudden, a black, violent pain, straight to the very core of his being. Jack had collapsed, rigid, on the cold concrete floor, barely conscious, unable to breathe for the pain. The sheer black hollowness of that feeling still haunted him, in the quiet moments.

His ship hummed quietly to him, registering as a brief brighter golden glow in his mind. She sensed his anxiety, tried to soothe him. He reflexively reassured her, mind still elsewhere.

Tosh had seen him straight away, yelling in fear, alerting the others. He'd been bleeding, all over, blood seeping from his pores like sweat. Gods it had hurt. It had taken him two weeks to recover fully. Jack realised that was the closest to death he'd come since he had first died on the Game Station.

He'd felt his heart stutter to a stop in his chest.

And in the total emptiness of that moment, there had been one tiny pinprick of golden light, wavering like a candle flame in a strong wind. Somehow, through all the agony, that little light had been more important than anything he had ever strived for. Instinctively, he'd latched on to it, fed it as much life-force as he could. He'd kept going, even as his vision began to waver around the edges, kept going until the little spark was steady; burning weakly once more.

It wasn't until a week later that he'd realised the correlation, and just what had happened. Someone, either Owen or Gwen, had knocked that innocuous piece of coral off his desk. It had fallen to the floor. It would have shattered, broken forever, but it reached out in blind panic to him- the being it had already tentatively formed a bond with. And he had taken the shock for it, nearly died for it, without even knowing why.

Jack knew why now, and he was glad. She meant more than anything in the world to him. He didn't think he could live without her anymore. Didn't think he would have survived this long in his immortality, if not for her.

When he'd first acquired the baby TARDIS, he'd never really intended for it to ever be his, fully grown. What human knew they were going to be around in 500 years time? And even then, what human had the psychic ability to connect with such a mighty time ship?

His resurrection on the Game Station had clearly had more effect than he'd originally assumed. That all-consuming golden light, an image he'd carried with him for so long, hadn't been imagined at all. There was a matching light within, growing, connecting with him, and soon she would fledge. The mere thought sent excited tingles down his spine.

Jack had been living in a straight time-line for over 400 years now. It wasn't something he'd ever gotten used to. Even with his event-filled life, even after all the years, the wander-lust still bit hard, and often. Still, he waited for her, for her to be ready. They had all the time in the world. For once, that was something he didn't regret.

Soon. So soon. They'd fly.

**oo00OO00oo**

Nostrils flaring, the Doctor raised his head, freezing in the midst of what he was doing. A small shower of sparks burned his hand suddenly and jerked him back to reality.

Eyes wide and manic, he quickly shut down power to the necessary circuit. That done, he froze into stillness once more, sensing… It was impossible, that little tingle he'd just felt. And now it was gone. Still, it had shaken him deeply.

He jumped, visibly, when it happened again, this time strengthening and stabilising.

'Impossible,' he muttered, under his breath. He turned his head, looking at the TARDIS console, as if she could somehow provide him with answers. Actually… she probably could.

With sudden energy, he sprung to his feet, grabbing hold of the scanner controls. He gave himself a moment, taking a deep breath and clearing his head. He'd find nothing if he went at it half cocked. The feeling in his head was so tenuous, he could probably snap it with a careless thought.

Carefully, as delicately as he knew how, he used the TARDIS's circuitry to amplify his own psychic powers, casting backwards and forwards in time, along the vortex. There, early twenty-sixth century Earth. Very close to a trans-dimensional rift actually. A small part of his mind registered this, even as the rest was still reeling, scrabbling desperately at the problem, unable to comprehend.

It was beyond impossible, what he could feel. The universe was surely ripping apart. Or he'd finally lost his sanity, from the sheer loneliness of being the last of a species. He was making up imaginary friends to keep himself company. Still… he couldn't keep himself from investigating.

Tongue sticking out slightly between his teeth, he moved the TARDIS into the vortex, working almost entirely out of habit. He was too shell-shocked to properly pay attention to his actions. He hardly even noticed her taking over some of the flying automatically for him. It was something TARDIS's weren't meant to be able to do, but after 900 years together, it was needless to say that in the right circumstances, she could and would.

The signal became clearer once they were spinning through the vortex. It didn't help him concentrate. Still, he latched on, tracing it backwards, finding its origin point. If there was ever a need to land accurately, then now was the time.

The Doctor was steering more with his mind than with any instruments this time. It was an unusual situation, letting the whole of time slip gently through his head, but not touching that massive, powerful flow. Just… feeling.

He picked out the one thread he wanted, tracing, and guided the TARDIS in, first to the general vicinity, then to the specific one, right down to the very second. Slow smile curling across his face, he yanked down hard on one particularly large lever.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**Remodelling Chapter 2**

Well, after no less than 7 people put this on their author alert within the first 2 hours of it being posted, I thought it'd be worth putting the next bit up. Sure would be good if even one of those people had reviewed. -shrug- At least people are reading it, I guess?

* * *

Jack's head shot up, nostrils flaring as a particular sound wove its way into his consciousness. The sound of the universe. A massive grin spilt his face, and he looked at his TARDIS's console, stroking one hand over the controls. 'I think he heard that, girl,' he told her delightedly. He felt her answering hum in his head. She was as happy as him, finally fully formed, whole and together. And as the icing on the cake, the Doctor was arriving, just outside.

Unable to stop smiling, Jack patted her twice, then crossed to the door, a recent addition, constructed as a finishing touch to turn his TARDIS into a whole and discreet entity.

Opening the door, he leaned on the door frame, unwilling to leave his ship even for a moment, even for the sight of the blue box pulsing into existence mere metres away. The cavern resounded to the grinding, wheezing sound; something that Jack hadn't heard in so long that he'd almost forgotten the powerful surge of joy it inevitably roused in him.

There was a moment of stillness, the Doctor's TARDIS settling into reality, abruptly pretending as though she had always been there. Jack winked at her, and felt a small jealous murmur from his own TARDIS. She was joking, which made him grin. He'd always appreciated a sense of humour in his women.

Jack's heart fluttered as the other TARDIS's door was yanked open, revealing a figure in a pin-striped suit, dishevelled hair sticking out in all directions and gobsmacked expression on his face.

'JACK!?' The Doctor managed to successfully exclaim a question.

Jack licked his bottom lip, grinning impossibly wide. 'Doctor,' he replied, voice calm. It was difficult, a new skill, but he could _sense_ the Doctor right before him; just a general awareness of the other's existence. Where had that come from? He was starting to understand the painful darkness that had once resided in the other's eyes as he had spoken of a dead race. The Time Lord had lived his entire life always _knowing_ that he was not alone, until suddenly, he had been. Jack shuddered even to think of it.

Of course, until 5 minutes ago, when Jack's TARDIS had finally fledged, he hadn't known what it was like to sense other people in his head either. But now he was beginning to comprehend what it might be _not_ to feel them, when one should be able to.

'But how…?' The question died on the Doctor's lips as he registered exactly what the doorway was that Jack was standing in. 'Oh Jack,' he murmured, unable to help himself. 'She's beautiful.'

Jack smiled, a proud, paternal smile. 'Thank you. She does come from your TARDIS, after all.'

The Doctor shook his head, grasping for words. 'Jack… I felt you all the way across the universe. I felt you, and I couldn't believe it. Rassilon, I still can't believe it. Do you realise what you've done?'

Grounded by the feel of his darling ship in his head, Jack shrugged easily. The Doctor was shocked, and it was a very good look on him. Still, Jack wasn't worried. Everything would be fine. 'Think you better come in, Doctor. We've got some things to talk about.'

'Haven't we just,' replied the Doctor, a grin spreading across his face to mirror Jack's. Skipping out of his own TARDIS, he shut the door and crossed to Jack's, roaming eyes taking in the organic, coral-like exterior, and the way Jack didn't step from its threshold.

Jack shifted to allow the Doctor inside, and closed the door. He didn't think there was any other person in the whole of space and time that he would have trusted inside his TARDIS at that point. But the Doctor always had been special.

Said Doctor was staring around him, at the interior of a type of time ship of which there should only be one left in the whole of the universe. 'You've done a good job,' he commented casually, reaching into a jacket pocket to extract a pair of spectacles. Putting them on, he walked over to peer closely at the console. Jack took the opportunity to ogle his pin-stripe clad backside from where he still stood just inside the doorway.

'It was mostly all her. She seemed to know what needed to be done.'

'They're like that,' replied the Doctor with a fond smile, putting the glasses away and turning to face Jack, hands in pockets. 'Now, given that I haven't talked to you since you were still running around with that Torchwood lot, you've got some explaining to do, young man.'

'Not so young anymore,' countered Jack with a wry smile.

The Doctor raised a delicate eyebrow. 'I suppose not, if you helped this girl grow herself right the way through. And of course you did, because I'm bloody sure there isn't another soul in existence that could of. Rassilon, you shouldn't have been able to, either.'

'Times change,' pointed out Jack enigmatically.

That got a grin out of the Doctor. 'Now I know I'm not dreaming. Only a Time Lord could come up with that level of irritating mysteriousness.'

That startled Jack. 'Time Lord?'

Doctor gave him a smile, gentle, reassuring. It made Jack's breath catch in his throat. 'Of course. What did you think? You've bonded to a TARDIS. There's only one race that could do that. And I can sense you, back here.' The Doctor tapped his head, watching Jack with a significant look.

'Time Lord though? You said… the time war. All extinct. And I'm human!' Jack was only managing to speak in fragmented bursts, stuttering and shocked in a way that was rare for him. He was over 500 years old, for gods' sake. He was meant to be developing ageless dignity by this time.

'Time Lords never were a species. More of a… society, for want of a better word. Before the war, Time Lords were Gallifreyans, of a certain caste, but not all Gallifreyans were Time Lords. And Jack, there's no way you're human any more.'

Jack let out a weak laugh. 'I suppose. It's not your average human who gets made immortal by a Dalek ray.'

'I don't think it was the Dalek ray that did it. I never realised… but I can sense that golden light about you. It was the TARDIS, my TARDIS. She brought you back, through Rose. She resurrected you, and changed you, just for this.'

Jack thought about this for a long moment, whilst the Doctor watched him intently. 'I always did get that feeling that I had been brought back for some special reason,' he murmured, slowly.

The Doctor nodded, encouragingly. 'Yes. That, combined with creating a TARDIS of your own. That's something that very few Time Lords ever did, even back when there were thousands of us. To sit around for 500 years, just waiting on an inert lump to morph itself into a fully formed ship- we've got patience, but that was usually more than Time Lord pride could cope with. The duty tended to be shared between dozens, or even hundreds.'

Jack frowned. 'But… helping her grow… It was wonderful- the only thing that kept me sane-'

'Because you couldn't die? Doesn't surprise me. You're not human now, but you were. Humans are meant to be finite, mortal. You were never equipped to deal with watching loved ones die around you. Your relationship with your TARDIS is almost symbiotic, it seems. Could be dangerous if you ever need to be separated. You relied on her, almost as much as she relied on you, through some of the most tumultuous times of your lives.'

Jack arched an eyebrow at the Doctor's near-poetic language. 'A love story through the ages, huh?'

The Doctor grinned at his wry tone. 'You could put it that way.

'So…' started Jack, uncertainly.

The Doctor cocked an eyebrow.

Jack tapped into his long-ignored libido, and found the courage to ask the question. 'Wanna procreate?' His grin was wide and devoid of anything resembling innocence.

The Doctor sighed long-sufferingly, although he too was smiling.

'Your TARDIS seemed to manage. It does put you to shame a bit if you're not going to at least give it a go.'

'500 years of maturity, and you're exactly the same as when you started,' the Doctor stated in amused exasperation.

'Not exactly the same,' pointed out Jack with a lewd smile. 'Now I can do this.' Frowning momentarily in concentration, he clumsily attempted to broadcast a thought at him.

The Doctor dryly raised an eyebrow. 'Oh really?' he replied to Jack's thought. 'Interesting proposition. Except I somehow doubt you're that flexible.'

'Aw Doc. I'm wounded. I've been working out.'

'I'm sure you have. All of this is overlooking one small issue though, Jack.'

'And that is?' asked Jack, not put off in the slightest. Propositioning the Doctor had always been one of his favourite pastimes. Lack of success had never bothered him one iota.

'Presuming we mix progeny up in a vat, even with two of us now, there isn't enough genetic diversity to restart a whole species.'

Jack's TARDIS gave a murmur, and he cocked his head, listening intently. The Doctor looked on feeling a budding sense of wonder. It had been so long… he'd missed the feel of another Time Lord, even doing something as simple as just communicating with their ships.

'She says…' Jack paused, frowning. He wasn't entirely sure he'd heard her right. 'She says there will be others.'

The Doctor looked momentarily stunned. 'But that's…'

'If you're about to say impossible, Doc, I'd think again.'

'You're got a point,' conceded the Doctor with a sheepish grin. 'Considering that I'm standing in a TARDIS that shouldn't exist, talking to another… Time Lord.'

'Still feels weird to have you call me that,' muttered Jack. 'Feel like a traitor to my species.'

'Sorry,' said the Doctor unapologetically. Jack didn't honestly seem that bothered, and proved this by rolling his eyes at the older man.

'Well then... what do we do about this?' Jack asked.

'Which 'this' are you talking about specifically?' returned the Doctor archly.

'You have a point. I was talking about what my TARDIS was saying. She's sort of intimating like… like they'll find others like me- time travellers. And, well, do what your TARDIS did to me. Bring me back, and the thing with the golden light…'

The Doctor was nodding in agreement. 'Mine's making similar sounds actually. She seems quite proud of herself over this, by the way.'

Jack grinned indulgently. 'I would be, if I was her. Big old plan to recreate an entire species. She certainly thinks big.'

'Indeed,' said the Doctor dryly. 'I think I'll have words with her though. Just in case she gets any other big ideas into her cortex. Would be nice to get some warning first.'

'Aw, don't be like that Doc. It all turned out for the best. Now… we just gotta find some more.'

'More? Oh, yeah, sure. Easy as that. "Excuse me madam, how would you like to become part of a race of immortal lords of time?" No to mention that we don't have a planet any more. The whole of our culture was destroyed. A race isn't just a species. It's a culture, a-'

'We have the TARDISes,' Jack said firmly, cutting him off. 'And it's a bit late to be saying it's too hard. It's already been started. As for finding people, I daresay the TARDISes will take care of that. It worked for me.'

'Indeed it did,' sighed the Doctor. It didn't seem like his opinion was necessary in this matter. He had one Time Lord and two ships against him. Besides… despite his objections, he longed for the vision Jack was speaking of. The Time Lords, recreated. Differently this time though. No longer some ancient and dusty race of senators, sitting back and watching. People who could change, and grow, and _live._

Jack grinned as he saw the Doctor warm to the idea. 'So,' he started, insinuatingly. 'Want to come for a joy ride?'

'I think my mother warned me about riding in cars with boys,' retorted the Doctor dryly.

Jack guffawed. 'I promise I'll be a gentleman. I've matured you know. Besides, I might need someone to show me a bit of this flying business, at least for the first few trips.'

The Doctor rolled his eyes, notionally giving in. 'You win. Let's see what the first of the new TARDISes can do.'

'Thought you might say that,' grinned Jack. Prowling around the console, he reached for a lever. The Doctor grabbed hold of a wall, and held on tight.

_fin_

* * *

I really don't like this story. Even the bits that aren't exposition feel like exposition. Anyway, there it was. Make what you will of it.


End file.
